Education leaders call for student-centered reforms

Calling for a personalized, student-centered approach to reforms, state education leaders gathered Thursday to mark the release of an annual report on the state of education in Massachusetts.

Gerry Tuoti Wicked Local Newsbank Editor

BOSTON — Calling for a personalized, student-centered approach to reforms, state education leaders gathered Thursday to mark the release of an annual report on the state of education in Massachusetts.

“Unless we change the rules of operations in our state and give more schools the types of freedoms we allow charters, we will not see that type of personalization, and we will see a continuation of a top-down approach,” said Board of Higher Education Chairman Chris Gabrieli, who advocated for empowering individual schools to lead the way on reforms.

A crowd of approximately 300 filled the ballroom at the Omni Parker House Hotel, where the Boston-based Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy released its annual “Condition of Education in the Commonwealth Report.” While Massachusetts is a national leader in education, there are still deficiencies in the system that need to be addressed, Rennie Center Executive Director Chad d’Entremont said.

“Even as a leader, if we stand pat, we will fall behind,” d’Entremont said.

The report, which called for an increased embrace of student-centered approaches in schools, highlighted several statistical indicators to gauge the performance of the statewide education system. For example, 79 percent of students are passing all ninth-grade courses, and 30 percent of public college students are in remedial, non-credit-bearing courses.

“We can sit back and say we’re No. 1 and everything’s great … and if we do that we fail to represent the thousands of students we’re not serving,” said Paul Sagan, chairman of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Core features of student-centered learning, according to the report, include differentiated classroom instruction, multiple learning pathways and increased student ownership of learning. Teachers in that model of education often act more as a facilitator of learning as opposed to a director of learning.

The report highlights the successes of Brookline High School’s Alternative Choices in Education program, which emphasizes advancement based on a student’s mastery of a subject. In the program, students move at their own pace through mini-courses that have milestones linked to graduation requirements. They receive competency grades rather than letter grades.

An internship program at the Leominster Center for Excellence and a multi-age classroom program at the Carlton School in Salem were also held up as examples of innovative student-centered learning.

“What’s the state’s responsibility? I don’t think it’s to say everyone do this,” Sagan said. “I think it’s to identify multiple solutions and multiple things that are working and create an environment where people can share the best practices.”

While Sagan said the state isn’t going to “back away” from having core frameworks, assessments and statewide graduation requirements, there is still room within the current system for innovative approaches.

The report recommends the state catalog effective programs and create a public-private fund to support innovation in education.

Policy efforts, he said, must focus on closing “achievement gaps” facing many disadvantaged and minority students.

“We will have to have some really uncomfortable conversations that really piss some people off,” he said. “That’s the only way we get better, and that’s what families in Massachusetts deserve.”

State Education Secretary James Peyser warned that focusing on personalization in the wrong context could lead to unrealistic expectations. He instead advocated for a “pragmatic personalization” in which state policymakers create the right environment, but individual schools lead the way on student-centered education reforms.

Personalization, Peyser said, doesn’t mean that every student is literally doing something different. It instead, he said, means that there are multiple pathways available to engage students.

“I think it starts with schools as the unit of change …” he said. “Ultimately, we need to be about creating great schools, and ultimately, that’s about empowering school leadership to develop those great schools.”

BOSTON — Calling for a personalized, student-centered approach to reforms, state education leaders gathered Thursday to mark the release of an annual report on the state of education in Massachusetts.

“Unless we change the rules of operations in our state and give more schools the types of freedoms we allow charters, we will not see that type of personalization, and we will see a continuation of a top-down approach,” said Board of Higher Education Chairman Chris Gabrieli, who advocated for empowering individual schools to lead the way on reforms.

A crowd of approximately 300 filled the ballroom at the Omni Parker House Hotel, where the Boston-based Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy released its annual “Condition of Education in the Commonwealth Report.” While Massachusetts is a national leader in education, there are still deficiencies in the system that need to be addressed, Rennie Center Executive Director Chad d’Entremont said.

“Even as a leader, if we stand pat, we will fall behind,” d’Entremont said.

The report, which called for an increased embrace of student-centered approaches in schools, highlighted several statistical indicators to gauge the performance of the statewide education system. For example, 79 percent of students are passing all ninth-grade courses, and 30 percent of public college students are in remedial, non-credit-bearing courses.

“We can sit back and say we’re No. 1 and everything’s great … and if we do that we fail to represent the thousands of students we’re not serving,” said Paul Sagan, chairman of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Core features of student-centered learning, according to the report, include differentiated classroom instruction, multiple learning pathways and increased student ownership of learning. Teachers in that model of education often act more as a facilitator of learning as opposed to a director of learning.

The report highlights the successes of Brookline High School’s Alternative Choices in Education program, which emphasizes advancement based on a student’s mastery of a subject. In the program, students move at their own pace through mini-courses that have milestones linked to graduation requirements. They receive competency grades rather than letter grades.

An internship program at the Leominster Center for Excellence and a multi-age classroom program at the Carlton School in Salem were also held up as examples of innovative student-centered learning.

“What’s the state’s responsibility? I don’t think it’s to say everyone do this,” Sagan said. “I think it’s to identify multiple solutions and multiple things that are working and create an environment where people can share the best practices.”

While Sagan said the state isn’t going to “back away” from having core frameworks, assessments and statewide graduation requirements, there is still room within the current system for innovative approaches.

The report recommends the state catalog effective programs and create a public-private fund to support innovation in education.

Policy efforts, he said, must focus on closing “achievement gaps” facing many disadvantaged and minority students.

“We will have to have some really uncomfortable conversations that really piss some people off,” he said. “That’s the only way we get better, and that’s what families in Massachusetts deserve.”

State Education Secretary James Peyser warned that focusing on personalization in the wrong context could lead to unrealistic expectations. He instead advocated for a “pragmatic personalization” in which state policymakers create the right environment, but individual schools lead the way on student-centered education reforms.

Personalization, Peyser said, doesn’t mean that every student is literally doing something different. It instead, he said, means that there are multiple pathways available to engage students.

“I think it starts with schools as the unit of change …” he said. “Ultimately, we need to be about creating great schools, and ultimately, that’s about empowering school leadership to develop those great schools.”